


the stars are at fault

by wildlings (candybank)



Category: NINE PERCENT (Band), 偶像练习生 | Idol Producer (TV)
Genre: M/M, i mean goodness, young adult garbage
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-21
Updated: 2018-05-21
Packaged: 2019-05-09 19:33:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14722259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/candybank/pseuds/wildlings
Summary: clinical intern cai xukun keeps running into a hot, obnoxious, beanie-wearing boy at the hospital.





	the stars are at fault

**Author's Note:**

> its [THIS](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Da48DdMUQAEGQZm.jpg) zhengting & maybe [this](https://twitter.com/xukunarchive/status/955591489211568129) xukun btw uwu

they meet between white walls and waiting rooms, catch twenty-ones and catheters, pizzas and burgers and soggy fries.

and xukun will never understand why hospital food is never healthy and good. he takes his steaming pile of oil and carbohydrates to a table and lays his plate out with charts and files and papers. ziyi had taken the day off, riding on a forty-degree fever, so xukun eats alone while flipping through notes and lessons. dr. zhang is one of the most difficult residents, after all. and sometimes xukun feels like he would rather defibrillate himself than present a case to him. but most of the time, he tries to remember that dr. zhang is one of the most difficult residents to get, and he’s lucky enough to have his spot.

he’s shoveling the cheesy, pointy end of a pizza into his mouth and trying to remember this when someone walks past and bumps into the edge of a folder sticking out of his table. the folder falls to the ground, everything inside it spilling out onto the floor and scattering.

and xukun, too surprised to even say hey. he looks up, eyebrows pushed together, to see the culprit. staring back at him is a stranger in a beanie and sunglasses. hot red and cobalt blue jacket, looking too cool to be anywhere.

the stranger looks at the mess he had made, and the black-haired boy in the white coat crouched on the floor trying to get everything back. with lips too pretty to forget, all he does is snicker.

xukun watches incredulously as the boy walks away.

“asshole,” xukun says under his breath, shoving everything back into the folder. too upset to even finish his food, he grabs his things, his coffee, and heads out of the cafeteria.

 

——

 

xukun sees him again on a Sunday, in the Dairy Queen across the street. in the same exact beanie and jacket and sunglasses. he’s leaning on the glass, looking too pretty to be anywhere, when xukun walks in.

he’s the first thing xukun notices. he chalks this up to recent memory. the brain recognizes better faces more recently seen, or something yet to be scientifically proven.

he looks at his watch. twenty more minutes on the clock. calmly as he can, he queues up behind the boy and hopes for the best—which doesn’t come, as the boy seems to notice him. and the boy turns to look at him, looking him up and down and up again.

he pushes his shades slightly down his nose, bright brown eyes peering at xukun.

“you’re that clumsy doctor,” he says by way of greeting, and xukun has to physically bite his tongue.

patience, yixing always reminds them. patience is always key when dealing with patients. and although the rude human being in front of him is no patient, xukun heeds the advice.

“intern,” he corrects with a small, polite smile.

“clumsy,” the boy quips back, grinning at the expression xukun gets on his face,

“you’re cute, too.”

‘ _mango cheesecake for zheng_ ,’ calls the worker behind the counter, turning the cup of ice cream upside down before sliding it across the glass towards the boy.

the line moves, and xukun gives his order. and he’s so close to sighing in relief that it’s all over when the boy starts talking to him again.

“don’t see a lot of cute doctors,” he says, leaning over the counter aimlessly. “how old are you?”

“just as old as the next intern.”

“cute.”

“…stop calling me that.”

the boy shrugs and sucks mango cheesecake off of his plastic spoon again.

and for all of a moment it seems like he’s about to leave. xukun’s just about to rejoice when the boy talks to him again, “what should i call you?”

“why would you call me?”

‘here you go,’ says the worker behind the counter, giving xukun his cup of dark chocolate.

zhengting turns to the employee and pouts. “zeren, you didn’t ask for his name,” he complains. the employee laughs, looking up at xukun to see him shaking his head.

“looks like he doesn’t want you to know,” zeren laughs, giving xukun his change.

“cai xu-kun,” zhengting reads off of the i.d. hanging on xukun’s shirt pocket. “did i say that right?”

gingerly, xukun covers his i.d. with a hand.

zhengting laughs. he glances at the clock on the wall secretly.

“well, i ‘gotta go,” he bids the both of them goodbye. “see you around, dr. cai,” he calls as he exits.

xukun only notices that he left his ice cream on the counter when zeren takes it and throws it out, almost as if he has done it a million times before.

 

 ——

 

xukun is daydreaming in yixing’s office when zhengting passes by. walking past, walking back. one, two, three steps, so he can confirm what he saw through the glass.

knock-knock-knock, then the door is pushed open. and zhengting is peering in. all pale head and exact same clothes.

“…yes?” xukun stares.

“hey, doc,” zhengting grins, putting his shades up on his head and walking in as if he owns the place.

he sits on the couch opposite the table, and looks around the office for a long second.

xukun glances at all the paperwork he has lying around, then glances up at zhengting.

he clears his throat, “can i help you?”

“don’t think so.”

xukun stares.

“can you exit dr. zhang’s office, then?”

“mm-mm,” zhengting replies obnoxiously, leaning forward to look at everything xukun has on the table.

 

——

 

exams come almost too soon. almost too soon, xukun is queuing up with his classmates to The Fishing Bowl. one after another they step up onto the podium, dip a hand into the glass, and pick up a piece of paper with a code.

a patient. xukun hates when they reduce people to names and numbers.

one by one, they pick out their corresponding patient file from the table. one by one, they cross the bridge to reach the hospital. to visit their patient, to exchange hi’s and hello’s. everyone wants pediatrics, or any case that isn’t surgery for a patient beyond forty.

xukun hopes for cardio and gets pedia. he walks across the bridge all heavy inhales and ready only to find out that his patient checked out three days before.

he laughs with his friends, and marches back to the fishing bowl to get a new number. a new patient. another walk back through the hospital wing.

a blue door into a big room greets him. a boy in bed with a nose buried into a thick pharmacology book, knitted pink beanie on his head.

“good morning, zhengting,” xukun smiles, chart in hand. "i'm xukun. i’ll be doing y—“

the boy lifts his head up from his book, all black bags under his eyes and pale lips.

“well, lookie here,” a grin stretches across the boy’s lips, “if it isn’t the clumsy doctor.”

**Author's Note:**

> a wip im publishing in the hopes that it'll stop rotting in my drafts & that i'll actually finish it fingers: CROSSED uwu


End file.
